326 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. VII. 



the W-shaped blotches less distinct, dorsals and caudal fins faintly 

 barred. 



Reaching a length of not more than i ^4 inches. 



This fish ranges from Iowa to Alabama and Texas. 



Genus Aiiiiiiocrypta Jordan. 



Body slender, elongate, fusiform; mouth rather wide, its gape 

 horizontal; premaxillaries protractile; teeth on vomer; ventral sur- 

 face without scales; gill membranes somewhat connected; pyloric 

 caeca 4. 



Ammocrypta pellucida (Baird). Sand Darter. 



Head 4.1 to 4.4; depth 8.2 to 10. i; D. ix to xi — 9 to 11 ; A. i, 8 

 or 9; scales 67 to 78. 



Body elongate, very slender; head with slightly decurved snout; 

 interorbital space narrow, concave; mouth rather large, its gape 

 horizontal, the cleft 3.1 to 4.4 in head; maxillary reaching slightly 



Fig. 71. Sand Darter. 



Ammocyipta pellucida (Baird). (From Forbes and Richardson.) 



past front of orbit; snout slightly decurved, pointed, 3.1 to 3.8 in 

 head; eye 3.6 to 4.3; spinous and soft dorsals widely separated; 

 separation of ventrals less than their width at base; gill membranes 

 somewhat connected; cheeks and opercles scaled; nape scaled or not; 

 throat, breast, and belly entirely naked; all of the scales more or less 

 embedded and with slightly ctenoid edges, those on body confined 

 to a strip or band of varying width on sides; lateral line usually 

 complete. 



Color white, translucent; scales with fine black dots; a series of 

 squarish olive or bluish blotches along the back, and another along 

 each side. 



Length 2 V2 inches. 



This fish ranges from Minnesota to Ohio and Texas. 



